1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technology that supports communication between users who exchange text messages in a conversation system on a real time basis.
In the present invention, a conversation system refers to a system that includes a plurality of conversation devices. The Conversation devices are connected to a network. The Conversation devices can share a virtual space formed on the network to exchange text messages among each other on a real time basis.
An IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a type of a conversation system that is structured in compliance with an IRC protocol (RFC1459). The IRC includes an IRC server and IRC clients that are connected to the IRC server via the Internet. The IRC clients share a virtual space called a channel to exchange text messages on a real time basis. The IRC server broadcasts a message from an IRC client to other IRC clients who participate in the same channel. In the IRC, each of the IRC clients is uniquely defined by an identifier called nickname. Each channel is assigned a channel name, which uniquely identifies the channel.
2. Description of Related Art
Recently, conversation systems in which a plurality of users can conduct conversation on a real time basis have become popular means of communication. Examples of such conversation systems include IRC and Nifty's forum, which have become increasingly popular as the Internet has come to be more widely used. On the other hand, as the Internet has become more popular, various web page information search services and access control services that control access to web pages offered by WWW (World Wide Web) servers have been developed and offered. In providing such services, URL (Uniform Resource Locators, RFC 1738) are being categorized by certain categories. Accordingly, the URL has come to be utilized as an index of the category.
A conversation system such as IRC has tens of thousands of virtual spaces, which are shared by users who can be physically separated by a large. Upon entering such a virtual world, often a user is not able to know in advance what kind of people with whom he/she is sharing the virtual space, or what topics of conversation he/she should discuss with them. For instance, in the case of real world conversations, people mutually adjust the subject and/or timing of conversation based on the relationships between the participants. Facial expressions, outfits, and/or the place at which the conversation is taking place are also consciously or sub-consciously considered.
However, in the case of conversations within a virtual space, where there is almost no information available about the person, a user cannot know what kind of person to whom he/she is talking, or about what he/she should talk. Consequently, the user cannot perform the adjustments that he/she would perform in normal real word conversations. As a result, a user is often easily bored with virtual space conversation. Addressing a user who is about to exit the virtual space, addressing a user in a language which is unintelligible to the user, or inadvertently offending are also problems faced by virtual space communicators.
The object of the present invention is to provide technology that allows a user to obtain information about a person with whom the user is about to have conversation in a chaotic virtual space, prior to starting the conversation, thereby enabling easier and more effective network communications.